Dhoni to miss first round of Ranji

The Indian captain, MS Dhoni, will miss the first leg of the upcoming Ranji Trophy due to a cold and cough infection. The opening round of matches are scheduled to be held across various venues in the country from the 2nd to the 5th of November.

All the marquee Indian players have decided to play for their respective Ranji sides. Not only will it give them some invaluable match practice ahead of the first Test against England starting in Ahmedabad from the 15th of November, but it would also add that extra sheen and kick off the revamped Ranji Trophy in a grand style and give the rest of the players that extra motivation for the rest of the season.

Dhoni hasn't represented Jharkhand for the last five years. "For the last six or seven years, I have been playing for India regularly and this time the local association asked me whether I was fit or not. I told them that I have cough and cold and not to consider me for selection," Dhoni was quoted as saying at the opening of a fitness training centre in a South Delhi mall.

Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Ishant Sharma, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina will be playing in the Delhi vs UP game in Ghaziabad.

Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan will be playing for Mumbai against Railways while Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh and Pragyan Ojha are set to play in the game between Hyderabad and Punjab.

Ravichandran Ashwin will be playing for Tamil Nadu in Orissa. Cheteshwar Pujara will represent Saurashtra against Gujarat while Umesh Yadav is supposed to play for Vidarbha against Haryana at Rohtak.

The Ranji trophy 2012/13 was eventually won by the Indian domestic giants - Mumbai - for the 40th time in the tournament's history, but it was a season to remember for two other teams - Services and Saurashtra.